Carved in Darkness (23 page)

Happy birthday—sorry I missed it.

She took a step back, her hand falling to her SIG. “Why would you ask me that?”

She must’ve looked as crazy as she felt, because he held up his hands and started shaking his head. “Look, all I know is some bike-messenger guy delivered a package with your name on it a little while ago. It was wrapped in paper with balloons and stuff on it, so I just assumed it was your birthday,” he said in a rush.

She dropped her hand. “Who left it? Is he still here?” she said, thinking that the frantic tone of her voice sounded odd coming from her mouth. The uniform must’ve thought so too, because he faltered a bit before scanning the crowd.

“He was here when … everything happened. He’d just dropped off the box and was standing right over there.” He pointed back the way she’d come. She turned and scanned the lobby. Nothing but civilians—all minding their own business. None looking back at her.

She turned toward the uniform. “What’d he look like?”

“Medium height and weight. Sunglasses, baseball cap. Riding gloves, backpack. No distinguishing features—honestly, once the punches started flying, I forgot all about it until I ran into you,” he said sheepishly, scanning the lobby again. “He’s not here. I’m sorry.” He looked at her with something close to panic.

Great. She’d succeeded in freaking the poor kid out. She shook her head. “Where’s the box now?”

“I gave it to Anderson to run up to you, so it’s probably at your desk. I’m sorry,” he said again. She had no idea who Anderson was, but she nodded her head anyway.

“No, no—it’s fine.” She turned and started to retrace her steps.

“Inspector?”

She turned back and waited for him to speak.

“It’s not your birthday?”

According to her personnel file, Sabrina Vaughn’s birthday was in July. “No, it’s not.”

“Then what’s in the box?”

The question formed a hard knot of panic in her belly, but she forced herself to remain calm. She shrugged and gave him a smile. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably just someone’s idea of a joke.”

THIRTY
-
EIGHT

H
IS OUTING HAD BEEN
a success. More than a success, actually. He’d just delivered Melissa’s gift when a commotion broke out across the lobby. He turned to see what was going on and could hardly believe his good fortune. She was here.

He watched a man twice her size grab her by the hair and punch her—once, twice—hard in the face. Any lingering doubt he might’ve had as to her identity vanished.

Her level of skill had improved. He had no doubt that she’d be a very dangerous opponent in a fair fight. The shiver of fear spilled down his spine again. During their time together, she’d been a spitting cat, all claws and teeth, but the way she fought back—her will to survive—remained the same.

She swung, connecting again and again. It lasted only seconds, thirty at best, before people dove in to break it up. The man had her by the hair and refused to let go. He ripped it out when they were pulled apart. She screamed—the rage-filled sound was one he remembered well.

There was a trio of officers behind the information counter where he stood. One of them came out and charged across the lobby while the other two stayed put. The man was hauled backward, screaming and cursing with every step. Melissa was dragged into a room by what looked like a professional football team in cargo pants, and the door was slammed shut. The lobby had come to a standstill—stunned civilians gaped at the empty space where there’d been violence only moments before. Someone coughed and it was enough to break the spell. Around him life resumed, but he continued to stare, let his gaze drift down the hall where the man had been taken.

The two officers behind the counter started talking. The man who attacked Melissa was named Sanford. Had been suspended for drinking on the job, practically lived at a bar—a place called the Station—owned by a couple of retired cops.

He left with a smile on his face.

Valerie got up and left him sitting at the table without a word. Michael sat there for a few minutes before she came back carrying a wooden box.

“Here.” She plunked it down in front of him. “Open it.”

There wasn’t much inside. A nametag—the kind waitresses wear.
Melissa
was engraved across the yellowed plastic in loopy cursive. He recognized the old Wander-Inn logo. A picture of Melissa and Tommy—the kind one of them took themselves. They were both grinning, faces pressed close together. It looked well-worn, like it’d been handled a lot over the years. There was a scrap of paper that looked like it had been torn from a pocket-sized notebook. On it were three words:
Make me ugly
.

Puzzled, he dropped it back into the box. There was another scrap of paper at the bottom of the box. He picked it up and read it.

Leave him or I’ll finish what I started
.

It was written in different handwriting than the other. He looked up at Valerie. “What’s all this?”

She rounded the table and sat across from him. “It’s Melissa. All that’s left of her.” She picked up her coffee mug just to set it back down. “I can sit here and tell you I don’t know what you’re talking about, that I don’t know who Melissa is, but frankly, I’m tired of the lies.”

He nodded. “You met her in Yuma? She got a job waitressing at the restaurant where you worked?”

She lifted a shoulder and let it drop, didn’t bother to ask him how he knew. “Yeah. I was working my way through community college with plans for interior design school in LA. She just wanted to support her brother and sister. We just clicked together, you know? You ever have a friend like that?” She looked at him. “I suppose not.”

He ignored that and lifted the scrap of paper. “She tell you
why
she left Jessup?”

“Sure. She got a little too flirty with her mother’s boyfriend, and he decided to take her up on her offer. Melissa got cold feet, but the guy wasn’t hearing it. She fought back and he tuned her up. She decided to involve the law—
her daddy
—and rather than see her man strung up, her mother kicked her to the curb and tossed the twins out after her. Then she and the guy took off for parts unknown, never to be seen again.” She cracked a humorless smile. “Did I tell it right?”

He nodded. He’d heard the story plenty of times over the past year. When he asked Lucy about it, it was the one thing she refused to talk about. “But that’s not what happened.” He tossed the scrap of paper on the table between them.

“No. That
is
what happened. Sort of.” She tipped her chin at the scrap. “The boyfriend came at her because he was a raping pig, not because she asked for it.”

“Pete Conners tried to rape her?” He said it quietly but the calm delivery must’ve sounded as forced as it felt because for just a second, she looked afraid—like she suddenly realized that he wasn’t someone she should’ve invited into her home.

“If Pete Conners was her mom’s boyfriend, yes.”

Lucy’d never mentioned it. Surely something like that would’ve been worth mentioning—that her daughter’s boyfriend had tried to rape her granddaughter a few days before she disappeared.

“But that’s not why she left.” Val changed the subject, reached into the box, and pulled out the picture of Melissa and Tommy.

“She loved him. Pined for him. Called her grandmother every day to ask about him. Was he okay? Did he hate her for leaving? The answer was yes to both.”

“Can you blame him, Valerie? He got stabbed and beat near to death over her only to find out she was a whore just like her mother. And then she took off rather than face the mess she’d caused.” He didn’t really believe what he was saying, was only trying to bait her, but she just smiled.

She dropped the picture and picked up the scrap of paper on the table between them. “He’d asked her to marry him, and she said yes. They had plans to leave Jessup together. No amount of gossip or speculation would’ve made her leave him.” She flashed him the scrap.

Leave him, or I’ll finish what I started.

“She left him to save his life.” Val dropped the piece of paper in to the box along with the picture and shut the lid.

THIRTY
-
NINE

S
ABRINA STARED AT THE
box. It was smaller than she thought it would be: a four-inch cube wrapped in red paper with colorful balloons dancing along its surface. It was tied with the same red satin ribbon he’d tied around the girl’s wrist. Attached to the ribbon was the same kind of gift tag. She swallowed hard. She didn’t want to touch it. She could still see the girl’s battered face, empty sockets aimed straight at her.

The box was big enough to hold a pair of eyes.

She looked up. Strickland was sitting at his desk, ignoring her. His desk was a mess again.

He was obviously still angry. She looked back down at the box. She’d put it in an evidence bag—

“Thought you already had a birthday.”

She looked up to find him glaring at her. The glare faltered when he got a load of her face, like his resolve against her was momentarily weakened, but he didn’t ask her what happened. She was sure he already knew. Gossip spread quickly among cops.

“I did. In July.” She chewed on her bottom lip.

“You okay?” The glare eased up a bit more.

She hesitated. She needed his help, and to get it she was going to have to play it straight. She shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

He rolled his chair over and dropped down in it, close enough to whisper. “Then let me
help
you. Tell me what’s going on.”

She shook her head again. “I can’t. Not here.”

He muttered a curse, started to pull away from her.

“But you’re right. Something’s going on with that guy, Michael …
and the dead girl I found in the park.” She said it all in a rush, before she came to her senses.

He nearly shot out of his seat, she had to reach over and grab his arm to keep him in his chair. “Did he kill her?”

“No.” She let her gaze fall to the box on her desk. He looked at it, vibrating like a divining rod when comprehension finally struck. Same red ribbon. Same gift tag.

“Is this evidence?”

“Probably.”

“We should bag it.”

She nodded, used an evidence bag to scoop it off her desk. She turned to drop it in her bag, but Strickland stopped her.

“You expect me to let you leave this building with uncataloged evidence in an open murder investigation without so much as an explanation?”

She looked him in the eye. “I expect my partner to trust me and back my play.”

He gave a low whistle. “Wow … you fight dirty, Vaughn.”

“I’ll explain everything—I swear. I just need a little time to figure some stuff out.”

“How much?”

She had no idea. It all depended on how much she could find out and how long it took her to put it all together. “Did you run her prints?”

Strickland worked his jaw for a second or two, probably trying to decide whether to answer her or tell her to fuck off. “Yeah. She popped as a potential runaway from El Paso. Kaitlyn Sawyer. Been missing four days.”

El Paso. Made sense if he was driving, and four days gone fit the time frame of how long Lucy’d been missing. “Has the coroner’s office called about the autopsy yet?” she said.

“Black called about a half hour ago. Said she’s knee-deep in autopsies but that ours made it to the front of the line because of the
brutal nature of the injuries inflicted on the victim.
Autopsy is set for nine tomorrow morning.” He swiped a hand over his face and looked like he wished he never met her. It stung. “I want specifics, Vaughn. A specific time and place where you’re going to tell me what’s going on because, I gotta tell you, this is it. I’m at the end of my rope with you.”

“I’ll explain everything tomorrow after the autopsy. I’m gonna be your plus one.”

The puzzle pieces were falling into place, but they seemed to be in endless supply. The more pieces he fit together, the more confusing the picture grew. Michael stood, needing to move around before he got mired in the past. He snagged the coffee pot and topped off his mug. He did the same for Valerie without asking. He put it back and sat down.

“Did she tell you what happened the night Tommy was attacked?”

“If Sabrina wants you to know about that, she can be the one to tell it.” She pushed the box aside.

“Okay. Then tell me about the night
she
disappeared.”

Val was quiet. He began to think she wouldn’t answer him, but she did.

“It was her birthday. Some of us brought in a cake and sang to her. After work, I was supposed to give her a ride home, but I had a date, and I—I couldn’t.” She faltered, cleared her throat. Took a deep breath and started again. “I let her walk. It would’ve taken me less than ten minutes to drive her home, but I let her walk. She never made it home. She was just
gone
and nobody knew where or how. All that was left was that damn birthday cake she’d dropped in the street when he grabbed her.” Her voice broke, the guilt and sorrow she still carried after all these years were like a length of stones draped around her neck, her head bowed beneath their invisible weight.